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Red Chopstick is a fusion-cuisine restaurant at i-Avenue. It has been around for as long as i-Avenue existed. This means that it must have established a regular customer base.

The storefront looks quite attractive and stands out among the neighboring shops. Once inside, the dining area is also nicely decorated. As the name implies, all chopsticks in the restaurant are red in color. No exceptions!

Red Chopstick's menu is extensive. It has Chinese, Indian, Nyonya, Malay and Thai dishes on its 20+ pages menu.

After much deliberation, I decided to go for the Thai-Style Pandan Leaves Green Curry Fish (泰式香兰叶绿咖哩鱼, RM9.90).

The moment the food landed in front of me, my eyes and nose beat my tongue to the food!

Served on a banana leaf, the green curry fish was so aromatic that I had to resist the attempt to start eating before taking photographs! It looks very good too!

And my tongue could not agree more when it was its turn! The curry is so tasty while the fish meat is just perfect to go with it!

The meal also comes with two Spring Rolls (春卷). They are reasonably good too!

I skipped drinks and opted for dessert instead. Having a sweet tooth, I went for the Cendol Ice (煎堆, RM4.50). For its price, the portion was quite large. Ingredients include pandan jelly (绿色粉条), grass jelly (仙草), attap chee (亚答子).

Having woken up early today, we decided to reward ourselves by visiting a nearby dim sum restaurant: Maxim Dim Sum (美食之家). It is located in Taman Pekaka, and consists of 2 units of non-air conditioned shop lots. Unlike the cart system, customers have the privilege of exercising their body muscles by placing orders and collecting dim sum dishes at the centralized table.

Of course, there are the old-school standard issues that needs to be included in every dim sum visit: Shrimp Dumpling (虾饺) and Pork Dumpling (猪肉烧卖). Maxim Dim Sum is well-known in Penang for its dim sum taste, so it was not surprising that we enjoyed these dishes.

We also tried the Mushroom Dumping (蘑菇烧卖). It was not as tasty as the pork counterpart, but nevertheless still worth a bite.

Out of curiosity, we also asked for a plate of Cheese Roll (奶酪卷), which came in 3 pieces. It is essentially deep-fried pastry that has been hollowed out for the cheese paste. It's something new, but not something that I will order again.

Last but not least, we had a plate of Fried Radish Cake (萝卜糕) to fill up the remaining space in our stomach.

The breakfast was good and quite affordable. The only concern is the large crowd during the later part of the morning.

600cc is a Taiwanese chain restaurant based in Penang. The nearest outlet, which is the subject of this review, is located at the Ground Floor of Tesco Jelutong, just opposite of Pizza Hut.

Many restaurants have one or two dishes that are their signature dishes. For the case of 600cc, its signature dish is the Taiwan Original Beef Noodle Soup (台湾原汁牛肉汤面, RM10.50). This is exactly what I ordered.

The dish is served with generous amounts of noodles and beef. The broth is made of beef stew, giving it a very rich, "meaty" flavoring. The noodles is springy and blends well with the broth, especially when eaten with pickled cabbages.

However, some pieces of beef (especially the larger chunks) are too large in size, making it difficult for the broth to penetrate deep. This causes these chunks to be tough and unflavored.

Drinks can be ordered at a special price with any order of main dishes. I ordered the Pearl Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶, RM1.50), which is just so-so.

Formerly known as Hongkie Kopitiam, Boston is a chain restaurant featuring Hong Kong-style cuisine. The store facade looks new and appealing, and the interior has the Hong Kong nostalgic touch.

However, what really attracted me was the late afternoon set meal (available between 3:00pm and 6:00pm). There are several selections for the set meal. In all cases, the set comprises of a simple dish and a selection of drink. The price varies depending on the dish ordered.

I selected the Sliced Chicken Flat Noodles In Hot Anchovy Soup (清汤鸡丝河粉) for the main dish, but I asked for the dry version instead. I was not sure why they used yellow noodles instead of flat noodles, but nevertheless the meal was quite decent. The dish also came with a bowl of chicken soup, since the noodles was served dry.

As for the drink, I had an iced Milk Tea (奶茶), which was served in a jam jar-like mug. It actually contained less drink than it appeared due to the thick glass walls and the fact that they used lots of ice.

The set meal costed RM6.90 instead of RM9.90 at other times. That's quite worth the money, but it is only available during odd hours.

Located along Jalan Burma towards the Pulau Tikus district, Inaka is a well-known Japanese restaurants in town. The food served here is quite authentic and the ambiance is pretty good. The price is also comparable with similar Japanese restaurants around the area. The only down side is the limited parking spaces.

The first dish is a pretty standard one: Kare Udon (カレーうどん, RM13.00). Essentially, this is Japanese curry udon with grilled chicken pieces. The dish is is made delicious by its signature curry broth.

One of us decided to spice things up by ordering the Gekikara Ramen (激辛ラーメン, RM13.00). Essentially, this is a bowl of extremely spicy curry with ramen noodles and various ingredients, including a large tempura prawn on top. Apart from the tempura prawn, it isn't too impressive.

We also ordered the Inaka Bento A (RM26.90), which consisted of a decent serving of Battered Chicken, a piece of Grilled Salmon, some Tempura Prawns And Vegetables, Salad, Chawanmushi, Miso Soup, Rice and Watermelon. In particular, the Battered Chicken was especially good!

In a shopping mall like Queensbay Mall, if you exclude the food courts and fast food places, there aren't many restaurants that an Average Joe can afford to patronize on a daily basis. Chopper Board is probably one of the few exceptions.

Located just below the Golden Screen Cinemas entrance, this Chinese restaurant has a rather straightforward approach to the menu; It keeps its menu short and simple. This probably allows it to do with a relatively small kitchen.

I ordered a bowl of Black Pepper Chicken Rice (黑胡椒鸡饭, RM6.00), which is one of their recommended dishes. The black pepper was served with some rice, half a hard-boiled egg, crispy rice and mixed vegetables.

Subway is the go-to place if you are looking for a quick bite. However, this does not mean that the food is prepared hastily. In fact, one of the reasons that I like it is because the sandwiches are prepared fresh, right in front of your own eyes! This is reinforced by Subway's somewhat strange catchphrase "Eat Fresh".

The outlet that I visit was located in Queensbay Mall, right next to the north entrance.

I had a newspaper coupon for 2 sandwiches for the price of 1, with purchase of a drink. I was not the only one with the coupon, because there was a long queue and nearly everyone has a coupon in his/her hands.

When it reached my turn, I ordered a 6-inch Roast Beef Sandwich (RM10.90) and another 6-inch Turkey Breast Sandwich (RM10.90). As usual, I asked for all vegetables, which explains why my sandwiches are always "bloated".

Anyway, the meal was filling and nice. And both adjectives are good for me.

Whenever the question regarding where to hold our department's lunch event arises, Sarkies Corner in E&O Hotel is usually the top choice. Given that it is buffet-style (yay to myself), within our department's budget (we have a corporate discount card), and halal-certified (we have Muslim colleagues), there are few other choices that makes this decision a no-brainer. At least most of the time.

From my past experience, I know that the queue gets crazily-long at certain stations. Therefore, I have strategized beforehand and took the effort to arrive earlier than most of my colleagues.

The first station that I hit was the meat section. The roasted duck is usually good, and this visit is of no exception. While I was at it, I also asked for some steamed chicken. Be sure to ask for some plum sauce to go with the duck.

The next station that I quickly hit was for char koay teow. Since the chef only works on 1-2 plates at a time, you bet the queue will be very long when there are many hungry mouths to feed. Although not comparable to the masterpieces from Ah Leng, the Sarkies Corner can cook up pretty nice versions of its own.

Now that other people are starting to pile up at those stations, I headed to the seafood section instead. Among the dishes available are oysters, mussels, shrimps, salmon (raw and smoked), eel (smoked) etc. Strictly speaking, the food isn't all that impressive. But for the price that we are paying, we need to do justice by inflicting a decent amount of damage to E&O by grabbing some expensive seafood dishes.

As for the mainstream dishes (such as chicken, mutton, fried rice, noodles, squid and others), they are just so-so. At least, the variety at Sarkies Corner is more than other similarly-priced buffet restaurants in Penang.

For desserts, I took a colorful assortment of cakes and puddings. In fact, I notice that cakes run out quickly around halfway through the lunch hour, and not all types are replenished. If you are a cake-addict, I recommend that you head there before your favorites are depleted.

In addition, I made an ice cream for myself. There are usually 5-6 flavors to choose from. But why choose when you can try all? Just for fun, I added a piece of marshmallow on top. Looks silly, doesn't it?

Finally, I made myself a bowl of Ice Kacang. Go liberal with the ingredients because it is self-service anyway. Just to seal the deal, the shaved ice was garnished with a slice of grapefruit.